Anaemia cases on the rise, age no bar

A survey of nine of India's poorest states has found a staggering increase in anaemia - lack of iron in the blood - across all ages even as other indicators of nutrition have shown a slight improvement from a decade ago.Subodh Varma | TNN | Updated: August 19, 2015, 12:43 IST

A survey of nine of India's poorest states has found a staggering increase in anaemia - lack of iron in the blood - across all ages even as other indicators of nutrition have shown a slight improvement from a decade ago.

About three quarters of infants and children up to five years of age were anaemic, with the proportion increasing with age. In fact, the bulk of the population including adults and senior citizens were anaemic. Anaemia leads to weakness and vulnerability to other diseases.

The survey, called Clinical, Anthropometric and Biometric (CAB) survey was conducted by the Census office in 2014 over all 284 districts in Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. the nine states covered. A sample of 1.65 million people was surveyed. The nine states . Comprising nearly half of India's population, These states have had chronic prevalence of malnutrition and disease, tied to deep-rooted poverty and lack of adequate healthcare delivery systems.

In all the states except UP, the proportion of underweight children declined since 2005-06, when the last National Family Health Survey (NFHS3) was conducted. In some states like Bihar, Jharkhand and MP, the drop in underweight children is significant. In UP, however, the share of such children rose from 42% to 45%. Despite the declines, most states still have about 40 to 45% of children underweight.

Stunting (low height to age ratio) and wasting (low weight to height) are the other characteristics of malnutrition recorded in the CAB survey. They too follow the pattern of underweight shares with UP slightly increasing, Rajasthan showing insignificant changes and others declining. It still leaves about 62% of children in UP, and over 50% in Bihar, MP and Jharkhand stunted.

Slightly better nourishment indicators but worsening anaemia appears to be a contradiction, but experts believe that while food aid programs like anganwadis and mid-day meals may be contributing to better weight, these may not be able to fulfill the growing body's need for essential nutrients like iron.

What is striking is the extensive and unmitigated prevalence of anaemia in all these states and among all age groups. Among children between 5 and 9 years of age, over 80% are anaemic in all states, except Chhattisgarh where the proportion is 79%. In Uttarakhand, a shocking 95% were anaemic.

This trend continues across older age groups, with the 18 to 59 years age group in nearly all states having between 80 to 90% suffering from anaemia. Odisha has the lowest share at 75% while UP has the highest at an incredible 92%.

The state of health of the elderly in these nine states is shocking with over 90% recorded as anaemic in Assam, UP and Uttarakhand. Bihar (89%) and MP and Jharkhand (at 86%) are not too far behind. In Odisha and Chhattisgarh 82% of the elderly are anaemic.

The sad health status of the elderly is visible also in their Body Mass Index(BMI). Between a quarter and a third suffer from undernourishment marked by a low BMI for the age.

A comparison with the BMI of the 18 to 59 years age group shows that there is a perceptible decline in older age due to compromised health and possibly neglect in care and nutrition. Other studies have shown that a large chunk of senior citizens in India are destitute.

The survey also recorded fasting blood sugar levels and blood pressure. Results indicate that about 9 to 10% of the population across all nine states had blood sugar levels greater than 110 mg per deciliter and two to four percent had levels higher than 130. Around 10% had elevated blood pressure.